


Little Shepherd Boy

by delicatelyglitterywriter



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Biblical References, Christmas fic, Gen, Shepherd Boy Fitz, The First Christmas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-21
Updated: 2017-12-21
Packaged: 2019-02-17 23:36:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13087815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/delicatelyglitterywriter/pseuds/delicatelyglitterywriter
Summary: The first Christmas as told from the shepherd boy Fitz's point of view





	Little Shepherd Boy

It was a night just like any other.

Sitting on the hills just outside Bethlehem, watching the sheep. Sitting by the fire, listening to the older ones talking about things that didn’t particularly concern him. Then going off a little way to lie on his back and stare up at the stars. Sometimes joined by a little lamb who just wanted to cuddle.

Tonight, it was little Rachel who joined him, nuzzling into his shoulder.

Fitz liked it when a lamb cuddled up with him. It helped keep him warm. Fitz also liked looking up at the stars. It was comforting, really, like the poet David had said, that God knew each one of the stars and called them each by name. It was nice to know that God knew everything. It made Fitz feel safe.

He wondered what God had named each of the stars. He wondered if any shared his name. He smiled at the thought; it’d be kind of funny if a star was named Fitz.

He was still smiling when he suddenly had to roll over as an unexpected, bright light hit his eyes. He then raised his head and saw a…person? Standing in the sky.

The person was really tall, and really bright. They had wings and light seemed to come within.

Fitz’s eyes widened, and his heart sped up. His palms felt sweaty and he wanted to run away, but found that he couldn’t move.

Was this person here to hurt them? Where had they come from? How were they in the sky? What was happening?

Fitz glanced back at the older men with him, hoping they’d know what to do. But they looked just as scared as he felt, and that only made him more terrified. Was this how he was going to die?

“Do not be afraid,” the person greeted, their voice seeming to make even the grass stand at attention. “I bring you good news of great joy that shall be for all the people. Today, in the City of David, a Saviour has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.”

Fitz’s eyes nearly popped out of his head at the person’s words. Messiah. The one who had been promised hundreds of years ago to his people to save them. Was what this person said true? Was he really here at last?

“This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

A baby? In a manger? That wasn’t what the men believed would happen. They believed that the Messiah would come riding in on a great horse, accompanied by the largest army the eye had ever seen.

But, if he was honest, Fitz found his heart preferring what this person was saying about the Messiah than what all the grown-ups said.

But Fitz didn’t have time to think about the words for very long, because, at that moment, a great multitude of these People appeared in the sky, singing.

“Glory to God in the highest heaven!” they sang. “And on earth, peace to those on whom his favour rests!”

The tune was unlike any Fitz had ever heard. It was like harps, flutes, lyres, and every other instrument Fitz could think of, playing at once, in a melodious harmony, coupled with the sweetest voices he had ever heard.

As they were singing, it suddenly hit Fitz: these must be the angels that he’d heard tales about. All the old people told the stories, passing them on to the children.

They must be angels, Fitz reasoned, if they were bringing a message about a Messiah. After all, only God knew when the Messiah was coming, and angels were his messengers, so they must be angels bringing the Lord’s message of his Promised One to them.

He pushed himself up onto his knees, unable to look away, not that he wanted to. It was so beautiful, and he never wanted it to end. But, eventually, it did, and the angels disappeared.

“No! Wait! Come back!” Fitz shouted, although he knew in his heart that they weren’t going to. He let out a sigh, but couldn’t stop the happy feeling in his chest as he turned to the men.

“Come on, come on!” Fitz urged them. “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened that the Lord has told us about!”

The men glanced at each other, their eyes showing the happy feeling in their chest also. Then, they all dropped their staffs and ran from the hills, into Bethlehem to see the Messiah.

It didn’t take them too long to find the baby that the angels had told them about. He was so small, and the most beautiful baby Fitz had ever seen in his entire life. He was rendered speechless and his breath seemed to be taken away from him.

All he could think to do was to bow down. Surely, surely this baby was the Messiah, he knew it with all of his heart.

The baby’s mother asked them how they had found her baby, and Fitz was the first to start speaking, retelling what had happened on the hills: the angels appearing, the message, the singing. Through it all, he couldn’t help but gesture wildly. His joy was just too much to contain.

The child’s mother smiled through the whole story, her face seeming to show a softer, gentler kind of joy that their story brought to her.

They were there until the wee hours of the morning, before one of the eldest shepherds remembered the sheep, and they said goodbye to the Messiah and his parents, with a blessing, and went out into the town to return to the pastures.

Still feeling an immense joy, the shepherds stopped everyone they passed and told them of the miraculous things they had seen and heard, praising God as they went.

When they finally arrived back on the hillsides, the sheep were all resting the shade of the trees; not one of them was missing. Fitz wouldn’t be able to get the smile off his face for days, not that he wanted to of course.

The Messiah’s arrival was definitely something to smile about.


End file.
